Power-down and 90 minutes of maintenance -- is this normal?

Maybe I'm just overreacting, but...

[zomega42]

I have a mission-critical server with a big name expensive web host known for top notch service and customer support. One of the biggest names in managed hosting. I just received an email informing me that they are planning a power-down and 90 minutes of downtime on my server next weekend.

My question is, is this at all normal, or should I be concerned? Shouldn't they have backup power to prevent this sort of thing? I have used discount dedicated servers for years and never had an outage like this, so I was shocked to find out they would nonchalantly power down my server for an hour during a maintenance window. Am I way off here, what would you think if your managed host turned off your server for a couple hours?

[jdMorgan]

I'd be wondering why they didn't have a backup server and a router switchover ready to go...

It all depends on what's in the fine print of your service contract, though. If they don't promise 24-7-365 availability, then you can't really complain.

If the site *can* be replicated onto a different server, now's the time to get a backup site ready and to start setting your DNS Time-To-Live progressively downward before switchover time. A few hours before the main server is set to go down, and ahead of the DNS Time-To-Live window, switch the DNS over to the backup site.

Jim

[zomega42]

I checked the fine print, and I have a 100% uptime guarantee but it excludes scheduled maintenance. I'm still shocked that they would even consider this -- seems very unprofessional for such a big name. I'm going to contact my rep and see what they have to say for themselves.